Canadian chemist John C. Polanyi studied the molecular mechanisms of chemical reactions, pioneered the use of infrared chemiluminescence, and won the Nobel Prize in 1986. He proposed a chemical laser, operating on the principles and properties of hydrogen-chlorine reactions and similar chemical reactions, leading to George Pimentel's development of the high-power chemical laser. Polanyi's Nobel Prize-winning paper was rejected at the scientific journal Physical Review Letters, before being published in Journal of Chemical Physics in September 1960. His father, Michael Polanyi, was a well-known professor of chemistry and philosophy, and his uncle was the economist Karl Polanyi.